Ten-Days Worth
At the bookstore yesterday while slurping a blended coffee drink I leafed through the stack of Hurricane Katrina books that have been released in the last year. It put me in mind of emergency preparedness.
Topping my list of preparations as a caregiver of two people with bipolar disorder was all the medicines needed to keep them stable.
The experts say we should have a ten-day supply of medicines ready at any time, which is easy enough unless you're at the end of the bottle with maybe five days left and the insurance company won't let you refill the prescription unless you want to pay the full cost of the pills.
One approach is to have a separate ten-day supply of meds sitting around. Just make sure you rotate them regularly. If necessary, you can request from your physician an extra prescription for just those ten days. For us that would be costly because of how quickly we seem to under go prescription changes.
So here's my plan:
1. Use a national pharmacy. Earlier this year Charlie used Walgreens because it was just around the corner. Katee opted for Target because of their cool red bottles. They both now get their prescriptions from Walgreens. With a big chain there are plenty of places to get medicine.
2. Simplify the refills. Because of personal budgeting we buy meds at the first of the month or the middle of the month. Use a chart or calendar so you don't get down to the last day before phoning in refills. Try to never drop below three-days of pills.
3. Keep the bottles. We use weekly/daily pill minders but we also keep the bottles so if all else fails we have that original information. You could make copies of the prescriptions but I'm not that organized.
4. Know how to store your medication. Several years ago while vacationing in New Orleans we left Charlie's meds in his suitcase. In the baking heat of the car's interior the soft gels melted together. After that we kept them in the ice chest but the container filled with water from the melted ice and more meds were ruined. Since then we always double wrap them before they go into the cooler. If all else fails I tote them around in my purse because I don't stay out in the heat for long periods of time (needless to say I can't get away with using a fanny pack and as fashion conscious Katee says "Why would you want to?").
5. Keep meds in one location. This one we need to work on. Katee's are scattered around her room. Charlie keeps the bottles in a little plastic bucket in the china cabinet and his pill minder is next to the coffee maker. I'd like to have them together so they can be scooped up quickly.
However if all else fails, as a very basic plan for personal emergency medicine preparedness, never have less than a three-day supply available and always keep the original bottles.
Topping my list of preparations as a caregiver of two people with bipolar disorder was all the medicines needed to keep them stable.
The experts say we should have a ten-day supply of medicines ready at any time, which is easy enough unless you're at the end of the bottle with maybe five days left and the insurance company won't let you refill the prescription unless you want to pay the full cost of the pills.
One approach is to have a separate ten-day supply of meds sitting around. Just make sure you rotate them regularly. If necessary, you can request from your physician an extra prescription for just those ten days. For us that would be costly because of how quickly we seem to under go prescription changes.
So here's my plan:
1. Use a national pharmacy. Earlier this year Charlie used Walgreens because it was just around the corner. Katee opted for Target because of their cool red bottles. They both now get their prescriptions from Walgreens. With a big chain there are plenty of places to get medicine.
2. Simplify the refills. Because of personal budgeting we buy meds at the first of the month or the middle of the month. Use a chart or calendar so you don't get down to the last day before phoning in refills. Try to never drop below three-days of pills.
3. Keep the bottles. We use weekly/daily pill minders but we also keep the bottles so if all else fails we have that original information. You could make copies of the prescriptions but I'm not that organized.
4. Know how to store your medication. Several years ago while vacationing in New Orleans we left Charlie's meds in his suitcase. In the baking heat of the car's interior the soft gels melted together. After that we kept them in the ice chest but the container filled with water from the melted ice and more meds were ruined. Since then we always double wrap them before they go into the cooler. If all else fails I tote them around in my purse because I don't stay out in the heat for long periods of time (needless to say I can't get away with using a fanny pack and as fashion conscious Katee says "Why would you want to?").
5. Keep meds in one location. This one we need to work on. Katee's are scattered around her room. Charlie keeps the bottles in a little plastic bucket in the china cabinet and his pill minder is next to the coffee maker. I'd like to have them together so they can be scooped up quickly.
However if all else fails, as a very basic plan for personal emergency medicine preparedness, never have less than a three-day supply available and always keep the original bottles.
posted by Crazy In Shreveport at 1:40 PM
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